‘But I wanted to ask you,’ the hegemon continued, ‘in case you’re offered a transfer elsewhere with a raise — to decline it and remain here. I wouldn’t want to part with you for anything. Let them reward you in some other way.’
‘I am happy to serve under your command, Hegemon.’
‘That pleases me very much. And so, the second question. It concerns this ... what’s his name ... Judas of Kiriath.’
Here the guest sent the procurator his glance, and at once, as was his custom, extinguished it.
‘They say,’ the procurator continued, lowering his voice, ‘that he supposedly got some money for receiving this madman so cordially?’
‘Will get,’ the head of the secret service quietly corrected Pilate.
‘And is it a large sum?’
‘That no one can say, Hegemon.’
‘Not even you?’ said the hegemon, expressing praise by his amazement.
‘Alas, not even I,’ the guest calmly replied. ‘But he will get the money this evening, that I do know. He is to be summoned tonight to the palace of Kaifa.’
‘Ah, that greedy old man of Kiriath!’ the procurator observed, smiling. ‘He is an old man, isn’t he?’
‘The procurator is never mistaken, but he is mistaken this time,’ the guest replied courteously, ‘the man from Kiriath is a young man.’
‘You don’t say! Can you describe his character for me? A fanatic?’
‘Oh, no, Procurator.’
‘So. And anything else?’
‘Very handsome.’
‘What else? He has some passion, perhaps?’
‘It is difficult to have such precise knowledge about everyone in this huge city, Procurator ...’
‘Ah, no, no, Aphranius! Don’t play down your merits.’
‘He has one passion, Procurator.’ The guest made a tiny pause. ‘A passion for money.’
‘And what is his occupation?’
Aphranius raised his eyes, thought, and replied:
‘He works in the money-changing shop of one of his relatives.’
‘Ah, so, so, so, so.’ Here the procurator fell silent, looked around to be sure there was no one on the balcony, and then said quietly: ‘The thing is this — I have just received information that he is going to be killed tonight.’
This time the guest not only cast his glance at the procurator, but even held it briefly, and after that replied:
‘You spoke too flatteringly of me, Procurator. In my opinion, I do not deserve your report. This information I do not have.’
‘You deserve the highest reward,’ the procurator replied. ‘But there is such information.’
‘May I be so bold as to ask who supplied it?’
‘Permit me not to say for the time being, the more so as it is accidental, obscure and uncertain. But it is my duty to foresee everything. That is my job, and most of all I must trust my presentiment, for it has never yet deceived me. The information is that one of Ha-Nozri’s secret friends, indignant at this money-changer’s monstrous betrayal, is plotting with his accomplices to kill him tonight, and to foist the money paid for the betrayal on the high priest, with a note: “I return the cursed money.”’ The head of the secret service cast no more of his unexpected glances at the hegemon, but went on listening to him, narrowing his eyes, as Pilate went on:
‘Imagine, is it going to be pleasant for the high priest to receive such a gift on the night of the feast?’
‘Not only not pleasant,’ the guest replied, smiling, ‘but I believe, Procurator, that it will cause a very great scandal.’
‘I am of the same opinion myself. And therefore I ask you to occupy yourself with this matter - that is, to take all measures to protect Judas of Kiriath.’
The hegemon’s order will be carried out,‘ said Aphranius, ’but I must reassure the hegemon: the evil-doers’ plot is very hard to bring off. Only think,‘ the guest looked over his shoulder as he spoke and went on, ’to track the man down, to kill him, and besides that to find out how much he got, and manage to return the money to Kaifa, and all that in one night? Tonight?‘
‘And none the less he will be killed tonight,’ Pilate stubbornly repeated. ‘I have a presentiment, I tell you! Never once has it deceived me.’ Here a spasm passed over the procurator’s face, and he rubbed his hands briskly.
‘Understood,’ the guest obediently replied, stood up, straightened out, and suddenly asked sternly: ‘So they will kill him, Hegemon?’
‘Yes,’ answered Pilate, ‘and all hope lies in your efficiency alone, which amazes everyone.’
The guest adjusted the heavy belt under his cloak and said:
‘I salute you and wish you health and joy!’
‘Ah, yes,’ Pilate exclaimed softly, ‘I completely forgot! I owe you something! ...’
The guest was amazed.
‘Really, Procurator, you owe me nothing.’
‘But of course! As I was riding into Yershalaim, remember, the crowd of beggars ... I wanted to throw them some money, but I didn’t have any, and so I took it from you.’
‘Oh, Procurator, it was a trifle!’
‘One ought to remember trifles, too.’ Here Pilate turned, picked up the cloak that lay on the chair behind him, took a leather bag from under it, and handed it to the guest. The man bowed, accepting it, and put the bag under his cloak.
